Detailed CFX-5 study of the coolant mixing within the reactor pressure vessel of a VVER-1000 reactor during a non-symmetrical heat-up test

Abstract

As part of the reactor dynamics activities of FZK/IRS, the qualification of a detailed 3D CFD model of a reactor pressure vessel is a key step in safety evaluations for improving predictive capabilities and acceptability of commercial CFD tools in reactor physics. The VVER-1000 Coolant Transient Benchmark, initiated by OECD, represents an excellent opportunity for validation. In this work a CFD model for the complete VVER-1000 reactor pressure vessel is presented. Due to computational limits simplifications of the core and of some other geometrical details are introduced. The simulated scenario is the heat-up of one coolant loop in case of the isolation of a steam generator while the reactor is operating at a low power level. Two transient runs with a first and second order approximation of the spatial discretization are performed. Unexpectedly, the first order method reveals better agreement with measured data.